


After All, She's Pretty Scrappy

by Carbonpixel



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Kairi's Past, Post-Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, Written Pre-Kingdom Hearts III, introvert!Namine, past scene phase, scrapbooking, therapeutic crafting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 14:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19297798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carbonpixel/pseuds/Carbonpixel
Summary: When the task of creating a scrapbook proves too daunting for Kairi to handle on her own, she enlists Namine for help.





	After All, She's Pretty Scrappy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [greeneggs101](https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeneggs101/gifts).



> This fic is written in response to greeneggs101's request in the Dreamwidth fic drive-thru: _Hello, I'd like a Medium platonic Kairi & any other female character fic, with the characters just having a conversation that has to do with Kairi's past in Radiant Garden or her home on Destiny Islands (basically a conversation that is about Kairi, not necessarily her friendship with Sora and Riku). May I also have a side of training or adventuring on Kairi's part? Any female character is fine (Whether it's one of the other keyblade wielders or Namine, or Olette, the restoration committee, or even any of the other Disney princesses), but an extra topping of multiple female characters or conversations would be awesome. To go, please._
> 
> Many thanks to Besin and Camtain Marvel in the Kingdom Heart Big Bang Discord for beta-reading!

The sounds of rusty scissors, tearing construction paper, and muffled frustration rippled around Namine as she strode down the hallway to Kairi’s bedroom. When she reached the open doorway and saw the carnage, her feet froze in place, one hand reflexively hovering over her gaping mouth. “What... happened in here?”

Kairi’s shoulders shot up to her ears at the interruption, causing her to fall out of her crouch and onto the floor amid haphazard stacks of crafting material. Shreds of paper, colored tape, and empty sticker sheets lay in disordered piles around her knees and feet, and a photo album sat open on the far edge of the biggest pile. She kicked at a particularly-gutted piece of construction paper with a disheartened grunt before looking up at Namine. “Oh, you’re here!” she shouted, visibly relieved. “Come in, come in! I need your help!”

Namine stepped gingerly into the bedroom, taking note of the wayward stickers, choppy bits of washi tape, and dried globs of craft glue adorning Kairi’s fingers and forearms. “Is everything... okay in here? Should I get some backup?”

Kairi tossed her head back and laughed, the gesture tinged with the mania of an overacheiver suffering a grand defeat. “No, not exactly. I just need your expertise.”

“Expertise?” Namine tiptoed toward the chaos, careful not to disturb the piles of ephemera surrounding Kairi. “Expertise with what?”

A stack of adhesive-backed foam shapes toppled to the floor as Kairi nudged it with one foot. “All of... this,” she said, her shoulders slumping.

Namine clasped her hands together, gave a small nod, and knelt beside Kairi. “Okay, but what exactly _is_ all of this?”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Kairi inhaled sharply. “I’m trying to scrapbook.”

“Scrapbook?”

Kairi nodded, her eyes downcast and clouded. With a languid shift of her weight, Kairi scooted toward her bed, using a wide palm and splayed fingers to scan the floor beneath her bed frame. She pulled a wide album from the depths, letting it fall open on the floor for Namine’s perusal. “I put all of these in here myself.” The paper protested as Kairi pulled the pages across the album’s three-ringed binding, until she stopped on a page with a green and yellow paopu fruit design. “I even tried to put in some colorful pages so it would look more artsy.”

Namine craned her neck to investigate the binder, then flipped through the remainder of the pages with practiced, graceful motions. None of the pages lined up with each other, and some threatened to rip from the binding under Namine’s delicate touch. “Wow, this is... something, for sure! I can tell you really tried.”

Kairi’s expression fell. “It’s not good, I know.”

“No, no! It’s a good start!” Namine waved her hands laterally above the album, frantic and apologetic in equal measure. She pointed to one of the open pages, which boasted illustrations of big-eyed cartoon dogs tesselating across the page. “I like this pattern a lot.”

Kairi’s lower lip jutted out in defiance. “You don’t have to be nice.”

“And _you_ don’t have to be dramatic.” Namine gave a soft giggle with one hand over her mouth before shuffling to the front of the album and tapping the first page lightly. “We just have to decide what should go on what page. One page at a time. The aesthetics will fall into place.”

Kairi slid her thumb between the photo album’s open pages and held it out to Namine. The album’s front and back covers drooped toward the floor around her grip. “Here, you pick first. Go nuts.”

Namine accepted the photo album with a weary grin. “Still dramatic.”

“Hey, one of us has to be.”

Glossy, half-staged images filled the plastic sleeves of the photo album, bits of surreal documentation of Kairi’s past and present. Namine’s eyes flicked from photo to photo as she thumbed through the album, scanning for something fit for the title page of a scrapbook. She settled on a photo of a young Kairi, maybe ten years old, holding a golden trophy as big as her head in front of a vibrant tropical sunset. “How about this one for the first page? It’s cute.”

“Oh, I remember that!” Kairi leaned over to inspect the photo more closely, displacing the paper shreds on the floor as she shifted. “I won the grand prize for a silly arm-wrestling contest the year before Sora and Riku started their growth spurts. They were pretty mad about losing, but I put them in their place easily enough.” She flexed one arm to demonstrate, winking at Namine.

Namine winked back, her grin brightening under the mischievous gesture. “Sounds like front-page content to me! Let’s make this the title page.” Namine glued the photo to the paper with practiced ease, then wrote _Memory Book_ in large, sloping letters above the picture. Kairi assisted in decorating the negative space with star- and heart-shaped stickers.

Once the glue on the photo had dried, Namine flipped the page, gasping slightly as the edge of the paper sliced into her index finger. “What should go after the title page?” she asked, bringing her finger to her lips.

Kairi stared at the next page of the scrapbook from over her nose, a pink piece of cardstock with polka dots arranged in a chevron pattern. Her eyes narrowing, she reached behind herself for the photo album without looking away from the page. “Let’s let fate decide,” she said, holding the album upside-down and allowing the photo sleeves to hang toward the floor. She righted the album in one fluid motion, exposing a random picture as the album’s pages settled. “Here.”

Namine peeked over Kairi’s shoulder to see a close-up photo of a slightly older Kairi, sporting teased hair, dark eye makeup, and a black-and-purple striped dress. In the foreground was another girl with sideswept bangs and similarly-darkened eyes, holding up a peace sign next to her cheek. From the angle of the shot, Namine could tell that the other girl had taken the picture with a forward-facing camera. “What’s that?” she asked, stifling a laugh against her paper-cut finger.

“This,” Kairi said, removing the photo from its protective sleeve, “is the one remaining piece of photographic evidence of my scene phase. More importantly, it’s evidence of _Selphie’s_ scene phase, which was much more intense than mine.”

Namine’s jaw dropped open, her index finger falling forgotten to the floor. “Really?”

“Oh, you have _no_ idea.” She flipped to another page in the album, shaking her head as she turned the pages. She tilted the book to show Namine another picture of herself and Selphie, this one taken by a third party. In it, Kairi beamed at the camera in a white shirt and blue shorts, while Selphie made a kissy-face with her arms outstretched. Selphie’s black t-shirt and raccoon-rimmed eyes paired well with the tower of bracelets she wore up to each elbow.

“I’m sensing a theme,” Namine replied, welcoming the photo album back into her lap. “Let’s run with it.”

In minutes, Kairi and Namine located every photo of scene Selphie with not-always-scene Kairi and laid them out on the floor, corner to corner. Brandishing a pair of decorative-edging scissors, Namine set to work on the photos. “The jaggedness of the zig-zag edge accentuates your guys’ rebellious attitude,” she assured, snipping at the last of the pictures.

Kairi sighed at the pile of newly-edged photos. “I hope you’re right. Selphie will kill me for ruining these pictures if this doesn’t work.”

Namine hummed as she fished for a glue stick under a pile of used sticker sheets. “Trust me,” she said, fingers ruffling the coated paper as she retrieved the glue stick, “this will be... how would scene Kairi put it? Hardcore?”

Kairi quirked one eyebrow, pursing her lips as she watched Namine expertly arrange the photos on the page, overlapping the pictures without covering or distracting from the images of Kairi and Selphie. She stuck a few glittery skull stickers in the spaces between the photos as a finishing touch.

Pride flashed across Namine’s face as she turned the open scrapbook toward Kairi. “See? I know what I’m doing.”

Kairi stared at the page, her skepticism melting into awe as she took in the artisanal tribute to her shared scene phase. “Um, yeah, actually,” she managed, speaking against her own disbelief. “That is... pretty hardcore.”

The pair moved through the scrapbook page by page, choosing themes and subjects by letting the photo album fall open to random pictures. Namine engineered full-page homages to island festivals, lazy beach days, and Kairi’s myriad academic achievements. Kairi had the idea to use the cat-themed washi tape to accent the page dedicated to her animal-rescue-volunteerism.

Finally, the pair reached the end of the scrapbook, marked by a single white page with red gridlines that screamed at the eyes. “Okay, last page,” Namine said, reaching one arm toward the ceiling as she let out a wide, low yawn. “What’s left to include? This paper is practically begging to be covered.”

Kairi looked around the room, taking stock of the crafting supplies obscuring the floors. “I think we used everything, actually.”

“Really? But we’re almost done.” Namine’s back arched forward as she stretched both arms above her head, her scrunched face hiding a frown. “Do you have any new pictures? Anything too recent to be in a photo album?”

Kairi brought one hand over her mouth and concentrated. Something recent...? 

“That’s it!” she cried, stumbling over Namine to reach the desk in the corner of the room. Palming at the top of the desk until her open hand made audible contact with paper, Kairi slipped a thick envelope into her lap. “I just got these developed the other day...” she explained, her voice trailing off as she inspected the photos within the envelope. “I have... oh! Here it is! My crowning achievement!” Kairi held the photograph picture-side-out for Namine to see, beaming.

Namine squinted at the photograph from across the room. It appeared to show a grinning, present-day Kairi, positioned to suggest the photo was self-taken. Just beyond the top of Kairi’s head, a black-cloaked figure lay prone on the grass. “What am I looking at?” she asked.

Kairi snickered, basking in her past triumph. “The first day I started training to use the Keyblade, Master Yen Sid asked me to spar with Lea. I knocked him out in the first few minutes and took this picture as a war trophy.”

“War trophy?”

Kairi’s head bobbed laterally as she attempted to quell her own laughter. “Yeah, of course. Could you imagine how embarrassed Lea would be if anyone found out that I kicked his butt on my first day?”

Eyes trained on the floor as she sank into thought, Namine began chewing on one thumbnail. “Would it be more embarrassing for him if we memorialized that moment as the final page of a full scrapbook?” she asked.

“Why don’t we find out?” Kairi waved the photograph in Namine’s direction, wiggling her eyebrows. “Care to do the honors?”

Namine’s expression darkened into a sly smirk. She held her glue stick between two fingers as though it was a cigarette and leveled her gaze at Kairi. “Let me at it.”

With one emphatic motion, Namine pasted the incriminating photo onto the middle of the red-lined page. She rescued a blue permanent marker from a forgotten corner of the floor, half-buried under bits of cut-away photographs, and circled the picture. _This girl will take on any world and win,_ she wrote, pointing an arrow back to the circled photograph.

Namine capped the marker and let out a deep breath. “Finished! I’m glad we didn’t have to leave the last page undecorated.”

“Oh, me too,” Kairi said, inching forward toward Namine on her knees and knuckles. “Can I see?”

Namine cradled the scrapbook in the crook of her arm as she held the book out to Kairi, rubbing at her eyes with the back of one hand.

Kairi smiled to herself as she read Namine’s final message. She closed the scrapbook gently, two fingers bookmarking her place on the last page. “Thanks for all your help. Are you feeling up to testing out our Lea theory?”

Namine pressed on her eyes with the heels of her hands, strands of blonde hair falling over her face. “You go on ahead. I think I need to recharge.”

Kairi nodded and tucked the scrapbook under her arm. “I’ll let you know how it goes,” she called, careful to shut the door with a light ‘click’ as she left the room.

Once she was far enough down the hallway to avoid suspicion, Kairi opened the scrapbook to its final page. _This girl will take on any world and win._ She read the words again, and again, and again, until she could repeat them by heart, and until her heart could repeat them with ease.


End file.
